Traipse through Old Sturbridge Village in Massachusetts, and you’ll catch a glimpse of 1830s life in New England. But this so-called “living history” museum might not be telling the whole story. So Sturbridge staff are rethinking their presentation of the past.

Visits to museums and landmarks have been declining since the 1980s. People today have many options for entertainment and leisure. To survive, museums must compete for people’s time and money.

But the problem goes beyond outdated costumes or brochures. Sometimes museums are getting history wrong—or at least leaving a lot out. “Many historic site interpretations have lagged behind scholarship,” says Jeff Hardwick, from the National Endowment for the Humanities.

Most visitors at Old Sturbridge Village (OSV) feel positive about their interactive experience. They ask questions, participate in crafts, and watch folks in historical clothing go about daily routines in homes, workshops, or farms. Yet surveys suggest that many feel something is missing: Minorities and women are often absent or so far in the background as to seem unimportant.

The early 19th century was a time of social upheaval. Slavery was less common in most of New England, and social change movements were in full swing. The roles of minorities and women were changing.

OSV hasn’t done enough to present those stories. Rhys Simmons, museum director of interpretation, says, “You leave here with the sense that it was an almost exclusively white- and male-dominated picture.”

That wasn’t the case. Life in New England wasn’t easy or fair for African Americans. But they were sometimes barbers, blacksmiths, or small shopkeepers. Women wouldn’t get the right to vote for another 90 years, but they often managed large households.

“The home was the foundation of every family, so women played probably the most important role in rural New England life,” Simmons says.

In an effort to change its history presentation—and possibly gain customers—OSV is rebooting its program for the first time in 40 years. Researchers are conducting a multi-year study into how the museum portrays race and gender. They’ll also study agriculture and food, civics, and industry and economy—areas where recent findings have challenged what historians believe about the past. (See also “Native American Fort Found” at teen.wng.org/node/4764)

Searching for and speaking truth is always right. (Ephesians 4:25) Simmons hopes OSV’s pursuit of accuracy will “dive deep into making sure that it’s a cohesive, purposeful experience for the visitor”—and make history more . . . historical.

Slideshow

Loralei Arndt is seen through a farmhouse window as she reenacts a 1830s worker at Old Sturbridge Village, in Massachusetts. (AP)

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Most recent comments

LP

wow

Brenna

I am glad that they are rebooting the system so that women and African Americans are more involved. I know that both of those groups were not seen as very important in that time period, but there was much behind the scenes work that visitors to these museums need to know about.

yeah it's pretty cool!

My homeschool/co-op group does a ,living history museum at our Church were the kids dress up as someone from history and learns a lot about there person the goes around in the Church gym and acts like there person! SO thee could be a astronaut from the 1960's and a artist from 1500's talking to each other in the same room! Last year l was Dolley Madison. But it would be really cool to go to a real museum of people dressing up from the same time period! But l do think that it is a better decision to include African Americans and women so they get to see the real struggles they had to face then and still do. Anyway way back in February me and my family went down to Virginia to a place called colonial Williamsburg, it's really fun! when we went there was a barber shop and the barber there was a African American man who was a freed slave, his story was very interesting and it turned out that it was true!

Wow!

Awesome

I LOVE the 17th century and 18th century and 19th century, pretty much anything that has to go with pioneers, I'm all in. And that kids is why I love this story! (I really, really, really, want to go there!) ;D

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